FIRST PITCH: Well, if the Blues vs. Stars Game 7 was too hard on your cardiovascular system and you needed to find a way to shut down and fall asleep, you could have switched the TV to the Cardinals-Phillies game. What a dud. The Cardinals lost 11-1, playing another sloppy game, and getting another awful start by a member of their rotation. The Cardinals have lost five of their last six games and are 21-15, a half-game behind the Cubs in the NL Central. During this six-game skid the Cardinals have been outscored 36-18. Not good.

CARDS KILLER: Bryce Harper, the $330 million bro, posted a return on the Phillies investment by going 2-for-3 with two runs scored, a walk, and a grand-slam home run in the second inning that gave Philadelphia a 6-0 lead and increased the local TV ratings for Blues hockey.

BASEBALL HERO: You got me … no salutes after a 10-run beatdown. Or can we just give it to Pat Maroon?

BLAME GAME: Look, I don’t care if the six of the eight runs scored on rookie Cards starter Dakota Hudson were unearned. He was awful again. Throw strikes. And with Harper going deep, the rookie has been strafed for nine home runs in his 35 innings this season. Hudson is giving up an average of 2.36 homers per nine innings, the fifth-worst rate among MLB starters this season. His 10.4 percent walk rate ranks in the bottom 20. His strikeout-walk ratio is 12th worst among big-league starters. Hudson’s FIP (Fielding Independent ERA) of 6.34 is the second-worst by a National League starter.

In some related notes …

Cardinals have been blown up by a grand-slam homer three times in the last four games. St. Louis starting pitchers have been abused for 38 homers this season, the third-most by a big-league rotation this season. Overall the Cardinals have been nuked for 60 home runs, the second-highest total against a pitching staff in the majors.

But if you listen to Mike Shildt and some of the starters, and members of the front office — hey, this is no big deal.

Might want to raise the standards.

TURNING POINT: Hudson opened the second inning with a walk. This came after he escaped a first inning in which he gave up a walk and a single. With Hudson nibbling instead of attacking hitters, it was a matter of time before the Phillies slapped him around, and that’s exactly what happened in the six-run second inning.

HEY, YOU DID GOOD: Matt Wieters hit his first homer as a Cardinal in the sixth inning. Pauly DeJong had a single and a walk.

LOOK, YOU NEED TO DO BETTER: First baseman Paul Goldschmidt and second baseman Kolten Wong made terrible throwing errors in the second inning, giving the Phillies extra outs and setting the table for Harper’s grand-slam. Yadier Molina’s passed ball in the second wasn’t so swell, either.

Goldy went 0-for-4 and has gone 47 consecutive at-bats without an extra-base hit; that’s the longest such stretch of his career. It’s been 51 at-bats since Goldschmidt’s last RBI. He’s batting .204 with a .468 OPS in his last 14 games.

Left fielder Marcell Ozuna is 2-for-19 since May 3 with a homer, one RBI, and five strikeouts.

In his last 105 plate appearances Wong is batting .167 with a .550 OPS.

Dexter Fowler was 0-for-2 with two strikeouts.

RH Reliever Luke Gregerson has a 13.50 ERA in two innings of work since rejoining the Cardinals last weekend. Another RH reliever, Dominic Leone, has been pounded for 15 runs in his last 5 and ⅔ innings and has a 9.18 ERA on the season.

In 30 plate appearances this season Jedd Gyorko has four hits, all singles, and 13 strikeouts. That’s a strikeout rate of 44 percent.

The Cardinals have been charged with 13 unearned runs this season and six of the 13 came in last night’s loss.

SECOND-GUESSING SHILDTY: Nothing for Shildt, but I’ll second-guess the Cardinals front office for once again going with a 25-man roster that has several weak links in the pitching staff, and there’s no excuse for that given the options down at Triple A Memphis. The St. Louis pitching staff has the worst FIP in the National League at 4.99. The rotation’s 5.21 FIP is also worst in the league.

But everything’s fine, right?

GOOD MOVE SHILDTY: Might as well let Hudson go five innings and lessen the weight being carried by the bullpen.

BREATHLESS: How about that hockey game?

ON DECK: The Phillies and Cardinals wrap up their three-game series today at 12:15 with Jack Flaherty (3-2, 4.17 ERA) starting against Philly’s Jerad Eickhoff (1-1, 2.05 ERA.)